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Thursday, 28 November 2013

Princess Sophia (29 May 1773 - 29 November 1844) was the daughter of Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester, a younger brother of George III.

Family history

Princess Sophia Matilda was born in Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, on 29 May 1773, the eldest child and only surviving daughter of William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester, a younger brother of George III, and his wife, Maria, the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole MP and widow of the 2nd Earl Waldegrave.

A family in disgrace

Sophia’s parents had married in secret in 1766 and her father did not tell his brother the King about his marriage until they found that Maria was pregnant. George III was hurt by his brother’s deceitfulness and instigated an investigation into the validity of the marriage which was carried out just six days before Sophia was born.

According to The Gentleman’s Magazine, “the usual notice was sent to the King requesting he would direct the proper officers to attend the birth” but “no notice was taken of the message”.(1) George III was so displeased with the marriage that he banned the Duke of Gloucester and his family from the royal presence.

Sophia was christened privately on 26 June 1773 at Gloucester House by David Moss, Lord Bishop of St David’s and Rector of St George’s, Hanover Square. According to The Gentleman’s Magazine, her sponsors were “the Princess Amelia in person and their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland”.(1)

Continental living

The Duke and Duchess and their daughter spent many years abroad for reasons of economy and for the sake of the Duke’s health. He suffered repeated bouts of a debilitating illness with symptoms not dissimilar to those later suffered by his brother George III. Sophia’s brother William was born in Rome in 1776 and the family returned to England the following year, but were abroad again for most of the period from 1784 to 1787. In time, the King became reconciled to the Duke, but not to the Duke’s marriage.

Royal provision

In 1778, at the King’s request, parliament made provision for the Duke’s children, by which Sophia was awarded a grant of £4000 a year after her father’s death.

George III also arranged for a Miss Dee to be governess to Sophia and her brother William.

Debut

Sophia made her debut at the King’s birthday in 1790, accompanied by her brother and her governess-companion, Miss Dee. According to Charlotte Keppel, Sophia was not treated very well. She and William were not invited to the dinner before the ball as they had expected and had to wait around for the ball to start. Sophia was “not dressed well in a very old fashioned style – her gown was very magnificent but the hair was dressed quite out of fashion”. She “danced very well but nobody paid her the least respect, and after the King and Queen were gone she was treated quite as a common person and pushed about”.(2)

Noble modesty

According to her profile in La Belle Assemblée: “Her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia of Gloucester has kept an equal pace with her Royal cousins in the cultivation of every virtue and feminine accomplishment; she is to be distinguished for the same noble modesty of demeanour, the same benevolence and affability, the same preference of retirement and domestic life.”(3)

Fanny Burney described Sophia in her diary: “She is very fat, with very fine eyes, a bright, even dazzling bloom, fine teeth, a beautiful skin, and a look of extreme modesty and sweetness.”(4)

Weymouth

Sophia’s father owned a house in Weymouth, Gloucester Lodge, which the King used for his visits to the seaside from 1789 onwards. During the royal family’s visit of August to October 1804, Sophia and her father were of the party. The Gentleman’s Magazine records that on the 8 September, they travelled to Bincomb Downs where they watched “a grand review and sham fight between all the regiments”.(5)

Gloucester Lodge, the Duke of Gloucester's house,
Weymouth seafront

Ranger of Greenwich Park

In 1813, Sophia was appointed Ranger of Greenwich Park and Ranger’s House was altered to provide her with suitable accommodation. She was very popular with the people of Greenwich who saw her as a kind and generous benefactor to the town’s poor.

Devotion to William

William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester
from A Biographical Memoir of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
by John Watkins (1827)

Sophia never married nor had any children, but she was excessively fond of her brother. After his marriage to Princess Mary in 1816, she was a frequent visitor to their home, Bagshot Park, but her sister-in-law resented her interfering behaviour which did not promote domestic harmony. When William died quite suddenly in 1834, Sophia was devastated. Princess Mary made sure that Sophia was not her constant companion in her widowhood.

The final years

Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester
from from The Girlhood of Queen Victoria (1912)

Sophia died at Blackheath, Kent, on 29 November 1844 and was buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Notes
(1) From The Gentleman’s Magazine (May 1773).
(2) From a letter by Charlotte Keppel to Anne Clement (June 1790) in Princesses by Flora Fraser.
(3) From La Belle Assemblée (1806).
(4) From The Diaries and Letters of Madame D’Arblay, Volume 3 of 3 (1846).
(5) From The Gentleman’s Magazine (Supp 1804)

Maria, Duchess of Gloucester (baptized 10 July 1736 - 22 August 1807), was the beautiful but illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole. She married first the 2nd Earl Waldegrave and then William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of George III who disapproved of their marriage.

Family background

Maria Walpole was baptized on 10 July 1736 at St James’, Westminster. Her father was Sir Edward Walpole, MP, a younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister, and her mother was Dorothy Clement, who had been apprenticed to a Covent Garden milliner. Although her parents were not married, Maria was brought up in her father’s household with her sisters, Laura and Charlotte, and treated as if she was his legitimate offspring. Her aunt, Jane Clement, was also part of the household.

Maria's uncle, Horace Walpole
from the European Magazine and London Review (1797)

Beauty itself

Maria’s uncle, Horace Walpole, admired her beauty and took it upon himself to launch her into society:

“It is the second, Maria, who is beauty itself! Her face, bloom, eyes, hair, teeth, and person are all perfect. You may imagine how charming she is, when her only fault, if one must find one, is, that her face is rather too round. She has a great deal of wit and vivacity, with perfect modesty.” (1)

On 15 May 1759, Maria married James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, a Lord of the Bedchamber to George II and governor to the future George III, at her father’s house in Pall Mall. Horace Walpole wrote: “For character and credit, he is the first match in England – for beauty, I think she is.” (2)

“Maria was in a white silver gown, with a hat very much pulled over her face; what one could see of it was handsomer than ever; a cold maiden blush gave her the sweetest delicacy in the world.” (3)

Short-lived happiness

The Earl was more than twenty years older than Maria, but the marriage was deemed a success. They had three beautiful daughters: Elizabeth Laura (1760), Charlotte Maria (1761) and Anna Horatia (1762).

Sadly, the Earl died suddenly of smallpox in Albemarle Street, London, on 8 April 1763. Maria was distraught. For a while, she thought she was carrying his child, but eventually she had to admit that it was not so and the estates went to the Earl’s brother, leaving Maria with a comparatively meagre allowance of £1000 a year.

A second marriage

Horace Walpole had high hopes that Maria would make a second advantageous marriage: “She is allowed the handsomest woman in England; as she is so young, she may find as great a match and a younger lover — but she never can find another Lord Waldegrave!”(4)

On 6 September 1766, Maria married William, 1st Duke of Gloucester, at his house in Pall Mall. The ceremony was performed in secret by her chaplain, Dr Morton, and there were no witnesses.

In 1768, the Duke bought Maria a house at St Leonard’s Hill, near Cranborne Lodge, the house that went with his role as Ranger of Cranborne Chase.

Banned from the Court

George III thought that Maria was a bad influence on his brother and refused to believe the rumours that he had married her. He granted her a pension of £5000 a year from the Irish revenues, and sent the Duke abroad on diplomatic visits in an effort to wean him from her company.

When Maria became pregnant, the Duke finally confessed his marriage in a letter to the King. As the ceremony h without witnesses and Maria’s chaplain had since died, George III launched an enquiry into the legitimacy of the marriage, just days before her baby was born. The King was forced to accept his brother’s marriage, but he felt betrayed over his secrecy and banned William and Maria and their family from the royal presence.

Family life

Maria had three children by her second marriage: Sophia Matilda (1773), Caroline Augusta Maria (1774) who died before her first birthday, and William Frederick (1776).

Princess Sophia of Gloucester from La Belle Assemblée (1806)
and Prince William Frederick, 2nd Duke of Gloucester
from A Biographical Memoir of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
by John Watkins (1827)

Marriage breakdown

In time, the King became reconciled to his brother William, but not to Maria. William’s own relationship with Maria deteriorated and he started an affair with Lady Almeria Carpenter, Maria’s lady in waiting. Sometimes he denied Maria access to her children, but despite their difficulties, they continued to keep a joint household and Lady Almeria never completely eclipsed Maria.

Religious commitment

During the latter years of her life, Maria’s religious commitment increased. Her eldest daughter Laura, who had married her cousin and become Countess Waldegrave, lost first her husband and then her eldest son. The bluestocking evangelical Hannah More was a correspondent of Maria’s uncle Horace Walpole and she offered religious consolation to the grief-stricken Countess and her mother. Although Maria did not fully embrace evangelicalism, she supported More’s Cheap Repository Tracts and welcomed Wilberforce’s Practical View.

The last few years

For the sake of economy and William’s health, the Duke and Duchess lived much of their married life on the continent. William suffered from several bouts of a debilitating illness similar to that suffered by his brother George III and he died on 25 August 1805. The King was kind to Maria after William’s death, for the sake of their children.

After the Duke’s death, Maria lived at Oxford Lodge, Brompton Road, London, where she died on 22 August 1807. She was buried at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on 31 August.

Notes
(1) In a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann (9 Sept 1758) about his brother’s second daughter - from The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, Vol 3 of 6 (1840).
(2) In a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann (11 Apr 1759) - from The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, Vol 3 of 6 (1840).
(3) In a letter from Horace Walpole to George Montagu (16 May 1759) from The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, Vol 3 of 6 (1840).
(4) In a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann (10 Apr 1763) - from The Letters of Horace Walpole, ed P Cunningham Vol 4 of 8 (1857).

Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester (14 November 1743 - 25 August 1805), was one of the younger brothers of George III. He was a regular visitor to Weymouth and he lent his house there to his brother George for his seaside breaks.

Family background

Prince William Henry was born on 14 November 1743 at Leicester House, London, the third son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his wife Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

William’s father, Frederick, did not get on well with his parents, George II and Queen Caroline, and his behaviour on the birth of his first child, Augusta, in 1737 resulted in him being banned from his father’s Court.

As a result, William lived mostly at Kew, in Kew House (also known as the White House), where his father accumulated a menagerie of exotic animals and pursued a passion for botany which he shared with his wife. Frederick taught his family astronomy and encouraged a variety of entertainments including rowing, cricket, outings to fairs and play acting.

In 1751, Frederick caught pneumonia and died. Augusta made her peace with the King, who allowed her to continue bringing up her family at Kew. William and his brother Henry had a house on Kew Green which included a billiard room and a colonnade for fencing lessons. His studies included ancient and modern languages, history and geography. In 1765, he toured Kent and Cornwall and in 1766, Guernsey and Paris.

Titles

William was made a Knight of the Garter at Windsor in 1762 and Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught in Ireland on 19 November 1764 (1).

He was made Ranger of Hampton Court Park, Ranger and Keeper of Cranborne Chase in Windsor Forest and Lord Warden and Keeper of the New Forest. He became Chancellor of the University of Dublin in 1771.

A secret marriage

In 1764, William started courting Maria, the Countess Dowager Waldegrave. Maria was the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole and the widow of 2nd Earl Waldegrave. On 6 September 1766, they were married secretly, without witnesses, at the Duke’s house in Pall Mall by Maria’s chaplain, Dr Morton.

George III did not believe the rumours that William had actually married Maria and sent his brother abroad to visit other European royal families as a diplomatic envoy for the British monarchy in an attempt to extricate him from his entanglement with Maria, whom he felt was a bad influence on him.

When Maria became pregnant, William wrote to the King to acknowledge his marriage. An enquiry into the validity of the marriage was held by the Privy Council on 23 May 1773, just days before the birth of a daughter, Sophia Matilda. The King was forced to admit the legality of the marriage and the child was given the title of Princess.

But the King was deeply hurt by his favourite brother’s deception. Whilst William had been ranting about the Duke of Cumberland’s shameful marriage to Lady Ann Horton the previous year, he had all the time been married to a commoner himself. The Duke and Duchess and their children were banned from the Court and William’s diplomatic missions came to an end. For the sake of economy and William’s health, they went to live on the continent.

The family complaint?

In 1771, William became very unwell with a similar illness to that from which his brother George later suffered. He endured a further bout a few years later and an even more serious episode whilst returning to England in 1777.

Reconciliation

The King’s concern over William’s health softened his attitude towards his brother, but he refused his request to be allowed to take an active military role in the American war.

Eager to serve his country, William managed to acquire a copy of the French plans for invading England which he sent to George, but it was not until the Gordon Riots of 1780 when he helped to restore peace as Colonel of the 1st regiment of foot guards, that he earned the King’s gratitude and was once more received by his brother.

Weymouth

William had a long and happy association with Weymouth which began, by accident, on Saturday 24 August 1771, when he first visited the town:

“The Duke of Gloucester, being detained by contrary winds, came from aboard the Venus, dined and drank tea at the Rooms at Weymouth, and afterwards returned on board.”(2)

The Old Rooms, Weymouth

William spent the winter of 1780 in Weymouth and commissioned a house – Gloucester House or Lodge – to be built on the seafront.

Over time, their relationship soured. William had an affair with Lady Almeria Carpenter, Maria’s lady in waiting, by whom he had an illegitimate daughter, Louisa Maria La Coast in 1782. For the majority of the period from 1784 to 1787, William and Maria lived in Geneva and Italy, with Lady Almeria still part of their household.

Lady Almeria Carpenter
from Macdonald of the Isles by AM Stirling (1913)

By the early 1790s, the Duke and Duchess were living separate lives, and sometimes William prevented Maria from seeing her children, but despite this, they continued to keep a joint household.

Family relationships

William was of a quiet, retiring disposition and managed to maintain good relationships with his nephews. He tried unsuccessfully to effect a reconciliation between George, Prince of Wales, and his wife Caroline in 1796.

Death of the Duke of Gloucester

William’s health deteriorated and he died on 25 August 1805 at his home, Gloucester House, Upper Grosvenor Street, London. By his own desire, he was buried privately at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on 4 September.

The King was in Weymouth when he received news of his brother’s death and the town went into a week of mourning for “their first patron and benefactor and as the sole means of introducing his royal brother here”(3).

Notes
(1) The date is given as 19 November in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography but 17 November in Debrett’s.
(2) From The Gentleman’s Magazine (Aug 1771).
(3) From Weymouth, an illustrated history (1983).

Henry Bankes was born on 19 December 1757, the son of Henry Bankes, a wealthy Dorset landowner, and Margaret Wynne, daughter of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. The Bankes estate encompassed Corfe Castle and the surrounding Dorset countryside including the family seat of Kingston Lacy near Wimborne. The family also owned a lucrative black lead
mine in Cumberland. Henry inherited the estate on the death of his father in 1776.

Kingston Lacy

Education

Henry was educated at Westminster Hall and went up to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 1773 where he became friends with William Pitt. In 1778, he went on the Grand Tour and had his portrait painted by Pompeo Batoni in Rome in 1779. Whilst in Rome, he met John Soane and Robert Furze Brettingham, two young English architects who both drew up designs for remodelling Kingston Hall.

Tory MP

From 1780 to 1831, Henry served as a Tory MP, representing Corfe Castle (1780-1826) and then Dorset (1826-31). He was a great opponent of the American War of Independence and became a fierce enemy of Catholic Emancipation and other political reforms which led to his failure in the 1831 election.

Corfe Castle, Dorset

Throughout the majority of his parliamentary career, Henry kept a journal which provides an extensive account of the day-to-day business of the House of Commons. (1)

On 26 July 1832, the Tories held a dinner for him in Dorchester to celebrate fifty years of parliamentary service.

A man of principle

Although Henry generally supported the government of his friend, William Pitt the Younger, his “attachment to his friend was always restrained and regulated by high public principle” and his “independent mind revolted at every sacrifice of principle to private friendship”(2). He was also a friend of the Duke of Wellington.

William Pitt the Younger
from Posthumous Memoirs of his own time
by N Wraxall (1836)

A man of good sense

Nathaniel Wraxhall described Henry Bankes in his Memoirs:

“His talents compensated by their calm solidity, for the want of brilliancy; his enunciation, slow, formal, precise, and not without some degree of embarrassment, was nevertheless always controlled by judgment, caution, and good sense. No man displayed more rectitude of intention, independence of mind, and superiority to every private object of interest, or of ambition.”(2)

However, he went on to describe Henry’s manners as “altogether cold, repulsive, and destitute of amenity”.(2)

Family life

On 18 August 1784, Henry married Frances Woodley, a celebrated beauty and the daughter of William Woodley, the governor of the Leeward Islands. She brought the sum of £6000 to the marriage.

Frances Woodley by George Romney (1780-1)
In the drawing room at Kingston Lacy

They had six children: Henry (1785), William (1786), George (1787), Edward (1794), Anne (1789) and Maria (1791).

Kingston Hall remodelled

After his marriage, Henry embarked on the huge task of altering Kingston Hall according to Brettingham’s design. The revised layout included the creation of a new entrance on the east side of the building, a kitchen block outside of the main house, a new dining room and a magnificent ballroom.